Verification principles plus runnable citation checkers for academic writing.
Position in the citation pipeline
This repository separates three citation questions that are routinely confused. Run them in order.
citation-verifier: is the bibliography a well-formed artifact? Duplicate keys, missing fields, DOI syntax, cited-but-undefined. Offline, immediate.- This skill: does the cited work exist, and does its metadata match what the manuscript says? Queries live scholarly APIs. This is the only stage that catches a fabricated citation carrying a well-formed DOI.
claim-source-verification: does the real, correctly-cited source actually support the sentence citing it?
None of the three substitutes for another. A clean local scan shows the bibliography is well-formed, not that the papers are real. A verified DOI shows the paper is real, not that it says what the sentence claims.
Core Principle: Proactively verify every citation during the writing process using trusted scholarly sources rather than memory.
Core Problems
Citation issues in academic papers seriously impact research integrity:
- Fake citations - Citing non-existent papers
- Incorrect information - Mismatched authors, titles, years, etc.
- Inconsistent formatting - Mixed citation formats
- Missing citations - Referenced but uncited work
These issues can lead to:
- Paper rejection or retraction
- Damage to academic reputation
- Reviewers questioning research rigor
Verification Principles
This skill provides verification principles based on trusted scholarly sources:
1. Proactive Verification
Core idea: Verify immediately when adding a citation, rather than checking after writing is complete.
- Search for the paper each time a citation is needed
- Confirm the paper exists in a trusted source
- Add to bibliography only after verification passes
2. Source Hierarchy
Prefer these sources:
- publisher page or DOI resolver
- PubMed for biomedical papers
- arXiv for preprints
- Crossref or Semantic Scholar for metadata cross-checking
- Google Scholar as a fallback discovery aid
3. Information Matching Verification
Information that must match:
- Title
- Authors
- Year
- Publication venue
4. Claim Verification
Key principle: When citing a specific claim, confirm the claim actually appears in the paper.
- Access the paper PDF
- Search for relevant keywords
- Confirm the accuracy of the claim
- Record the section or page where the claim appears
Best Practices
- Never generate citations from memory
- Do not guess when verification fails
- Mark unverifiable references clearly
- Differentiate preprints from published versions
- Verify the claim, not just the metadata